Advani, Yashwant Sinha Take Potshots At BJP At Shatrughan Sinha's Book Launch

A book called 'Anything But Khamosh', based on the life of a very disgruntled Shatrughan Sinha. A launch attended by LK Advani, Yashwant Sinha and BJP's newest bête noire Kirti Azad. BJP's loose cannon VK Singh in the audience. And the still-fresh memory of a humiliating loss in the Bihar polls. A recipe for fireworks, right? Right. The party's 'senior' brigade didn't disappoint at the launch of Shatrughan Sinha's biography in New Delhi and took the opportunity to turn the event into an unofficial Modi government bashing exercise.

The Indian Express reports: "Shatrughan and Yashwant, who addressed each other as bhai, were candid in their criticism of the BJP’s strategy in Bihar — the former in the book, the latter on stage. Advani took a swipe at leaders who seek successive Rajya Sabha nominations, a subject that came up because Shatrughan was upset with him when he was once denied a nomination. Advani apologised for this."

Sinha himself refrained from launching a direct attack on the party. However, he was probably hoping that his book will do all the talking. According to reports, Sinha has talked about BJP's refusal to grant him a third term at the Rajya Sabha and the party's hesitation to elevate his position in the book, quite candidly.

The actor pointed out to biographer Bharati S Pradhan that while he was denied a third term at the Rajya Sabha, several exceptions were made. "Many party leaders like Arun Jaitley, and my friends Ravi Shankar Prasad and Venkaiah Naidu were given a third term in the Rajya Sabha," he said.

Sinha, also lands a punch on party president Amit Shah in the book. He has said, "Amit Shah, our party president, had predicted with great confidence that we would win with 2/3rd majority. Perhaps it has become a habit with him because he had said the same thing in Delhi also. But ultimately we got only two or three seats there instead of 2/3rd… Right from state president Mangal Pandey to Sushil Kumar Modi to Rajiv Pratap Rudy to Shahnawaz Hussain, anybody and everybody, repeated his words like parrots with full zeal, enthusiasm and overconfidence.”

Yashwant Sinha, not one to mince his words, mocked the 'margdarshak mandal' that the seniors in the party have been herded to. "I am strenuously trying to prove that I am not brain dead," Sinha quipped, referring to the BJP's not make anyone above 75 years of age a minister in the Union cabinet.

Batting for Shatrughan Sinha, the 83-year-old BJP leader said, "“The stark truth is that he was not invited. Those who were managing did not find our utility. He may have got 10 people and I would have got two. But that was an addition," Sinha said.

He also added that the 'margdarshak mandal' was a committee that 'never met', hinting that the current leadership of the BJP have deliberately sidelined them with a bogus position.